Wow it's been a long time and I'm so sorry for that. I completely fell out with writing because I could never get anything good to come out of my brain for a while and I just never regained the motivation to come back to this story. I have been thinking about making my comeback for a long time now and my direction for this story never left my head in these two years. I hope I can continue to keep my character's characteristics alive even though I'm much older than I was when I had this idea in my head to make this story. Before I get on with the story I'd just like to point out that I was 14 when I first wrote the beginning of this story. 14. That's so insane to me as a now 18 year old looking back on what my mind could create so long ago. I was rereading the chapters to gain insight to what I was thinking back then and I completely lost myself. I honestly forgot sometimes that this was ME writing this at a mere 14 years old. I really hope I can continue to bring the same quality work I set out to do 4 years ago. Without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I'm back.

Horses.

Everywhere.

Yet Ezio looked like a little kid in a candy shop, observing each to find the best out of the selection to get for himself to enjoy. He drifted from each stallion or mare making ambiguous sounding grunts and clicking noises. He spent a solid minute looking at each horse before moving to another one for his hawk like inspection. He would reach out and touch their forehead and ears, before squatting down to take a closer look at their knees? I guess? Me, I just liked looking at all the pretty coats and manes each one had. I guess I wasn't a horse connoisseur like the assassins. But I didn't need to be. The rooftops were no place for horses, and the marketplaces surely weren't big enough to be keeping a "getaway steed".

I floated through the stable, looking at all the flicking ears and flaring nostrils. I wasn't too interested in getting too fond of any one horse because I was pretty sure Ezio would find a horse for me, especially since he was the one going to be paying for them. I just kept circling the stable, avoiding Mr. Statute and humming to myself to prevent myself from rushing him, even though I desperately wanted to. Standing in a stable with 15 or more horses on a hot day wasn't exactly my type of scene.

Eventually 10 minutes passed before I shuffled over to the ever silent assassin and nudged him with my leather boot. He grunted disinterestedly and I couldn't tell if it was to me or if he didn't like what he saw on the horse he had taken up residence in front of. I peeked down at him, his arms were crossed on his knees. He looked like a perched bird on the straw floor, unmoving and unwilling to stop his hunt for the perfect horse.

My eyes instinctively rolled to the insect infested ceiling as I sucked in a sharp stream of air, as much as my lungs could hold before I released it in an oh so obvious sigh/groan. I sighed for at least 30 secs before I finally tried to nudge Mr. Can't Take a Hint.

All I felt was a hand on my boot and it honestly surprised me. I thought Ezio was so fixated in what he was doing that I could damn near beat him up before he'd acknowledge me. Before I could even look down to see what he did, he was towering over me, beaming.

"Too impatient Miss Rosabella!" Even though his words sounded like a teacher lecturing his student, he was too happy about the horse shopping to actually be lecturing me.

This man was a rollercoaster of emotions from the very second I decided to snatch his gold. Ranging from slightly, actually extremely, flirty, to distant and sad, and also to whatever all this was about. I never knew inspecting horses could bring this much joy to anyone. Ever. Still I guess I had to admit he was kind of cute when he was smiling so I tried to be gentle with him.

"We've been here for about half an hour and I hate you for keeping me waiting for so damn long," Emphasis on I TRIED to be gentle with him. But nothing could bring him down right now, he was too high up on the emotional totem poll for my sourness to bring him crashing down.

He just laughed and laughed to the point I thought it must've been hurting his sides. He practically shook the wooden foundation with all the booming of his lowly pitched chuckling.

"Don't you get it Rosabella?" He smiled so earnestly and cocked his head to the side waiting for me to realize whatever he was trying to get through to me.

"I honestly have no, and I mean NO idea what you want me to get here," and I was serious, whatever kernel of knowledge he was trying to bestow upon me, went right over my head and took off somewhere.

He laughed a bit more before he leaned closer to my ear and said, "What I want you to get here... is a horse Rosabella." He straightened himself back out and chuckled like a teenage boy a bit more before he stood in front of an ordinary looking brown horse.

I stood frozen for a moment, absorbing what just happened. He was a major dork was all I could come up with. I tried to think of something witty to say so that I wouldn't become the statute in this situation, but for once the assassin left me speechless. I gave up.

"How long did it take you to come up with that gem?" I sighed and walked over to horse just across from him.

"I took about a minute from inspecting the horses to think of a way to have you fall into a little comical trap of mine," I didn't even have to see his face to know he was smiling ear to ear, then I heard his smile fall. "But really Rosabella did you pick out a horse for yourself. I was waiting on you for a long while."

"Waiting on me? Yeah sure you were. And no, if you must know I already assumed you'd pick one out for me so I wasn't paying too much attention to them," I mumbled to him. I didn't think I had much choice in the matter.

"Well assuming isn't a very good life model but it just so happens I did find a horse for a beginning rider like yourself," He was beaming again, I could tell.

I turned around to him as he walked to a tan horse, it was kind of small but that's all I could really gather by looking at it. Ezio however was very thoroughly looking it over, probably to reassure himself that this was the horse to gift to me.

He patted the small horse on the head and finally spoke after a minute or so, "Through my many years of horse riding I can tell that this horse is an absolute follower, perfect for someone who has never led a horse in their life. He should be able to adapt to your leadership in anyway it presents itself. I don't think the untrained eye could necessarily see that at the first glance but something I'm sure you've noticed about this stallion is that he is small. Not meaning to offend but you're quite small, so a smaller horse would be easier for you to mount as you're learning how. Something else that comes along with being small is that he has sturdy joints. I can't foresee any leg issues with this horse, and that becomes a problem when you're constantly pushing him to get away from who knows what or whom."

I gazed at the horse a little closer and while I couldn't see the leadership thing I guess if I knew a little more about horses I could probably figure out which ones were more able for running. The more I thought about it the more I realized he put a lot of thought and effort into picking a horse that would be well suited, and I guess safe, for me to ride. It made me smile just a little bit to know anyone could care even that much. Caring was such a foreign concept to me that even a small form of it surprised me.

Ezio stepped to the side and gestured for me to take his place in front of the tan horse. I sidestepped over to be in front of him and watched Ezio go outside, presumably to pay for the horses we wanted.

I looked in front of me and tan horse was looking straight into my eyes. My stomach had a rush of butterflies as I reached through the gate to pet the top of it's head. He was so soft, almost as soft as my favorite satin gold pouch I lost many years ago.

The more I looked into his eyes the more fire I saw deep inside them. Even if he is a follower I was sure he had almost, if not more, spirit than I have.

My thoughts were interrupted by boots crunching dry straw behind me and a soft voice.

"Are you ready to head out Rosabella? You two will become much more acquainted once you share rides together, and with him and my horse we'll reach my villa in under a day," Ezio spoke gently very closely behind me but I never took my eyes or hand off of tan horse.

"I'm ready," I whispered, mostly to tan horse, but also to Ezio. I was excited. I had never ridden a horse before, let alone had one to call my own. At least the ride to the villa would be fun.

Hopefully.

I'm hoping that's a good continuation of the story thus far. I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys again. And I'm also hoping I surprise a few people who were really hoping I'd continue this story! I'll see you in the next chapter.

-Kat